One of the gems hiding in plain sight on Netflix is a documentary television series called Explained. Each episode is about 20 minutes long and is extremely informative.
This is a series that doesn’t talk down to the viewer. It assumes the viewer has a basic command of the language. Using charts, experts and interviews, it attempts to provide background knowledge on a host of subjects including Cryptocurrency, The Stock Market, Why Women Are Paid Less, Cults and the episode I’m going to talk a little bit about: The Next Pandemic.
The episode The Next Pandemic was originally released in November 2019, a full month before the first observed case of COVID-19 in humans. The episode answers questions like:
- If it takes years to create a vaccine for a disease, how can an effective vaccine be developed in months?
- Why is the 1918 virus pandemic called the Spanish Flu if it originated in the United States?
The Explained series is a wonderful way to make yourself smarter about a wide variety of subjects 20 minutes at a time. The series can be found here.
